Greeley City Council gives John Elway green light to expand car dealership

Denver Broncos Exective Vice President and General Manager John Elway talks to residents at the Greeley City Council meeting last Tuesday. Elway was at the meeting to testify on a rezoing project for land he hopes to buy that will allow his auto group to expand their current location.

John Elway has led a lot of comebacks in his life, but maybe none quite like the one he engineered before the Greeley City Council.

After more than an hour debate on Tuesday, council members made a rare move and voted unanimously against planning commission and city staff recommendations on a rezoning issue involving one of the NFL's most well-known quarterbacks.

Elway, vice president of operations and general manager of the Denver Broncos, attended the council's regular meeting to explain why he believes a zoning change is appropriate near his auto dealership at the intersection of 35th Avenue and 25th Street.

The 8.3-acre property he wants to purchase to expand the John Elway Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealership at 2501 35th Ave. is currently zoned for multifamily housing.

The planning commission said no in a July 22 meeting after staff recommended against it — mostly because of a shortage of multifamily housing in Greeley and shortage of land zoned for that purpose.

Brad Mueller, community development director for the city, said the area has not changed significantly and has been developed under its original intent in the last 15 years, reasons that would not warrant a rezoning.

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"The amount of multifamily housing in Greeley is already limited," Mueller said. "That would take more of that away."

However, members of the City Council said the rezoning does conform with the city's comprehensive plan and said staff need to be more flexible when looking at economic impacts to the city.

"Our comprehensive plan is a living document," said Councilwoman Sandi Elder. "It has to change. It is always going to change with a change to our city demographics, population, oil and gas, it all affects our comprehensive plan. I very rarely go against our planning commission, but I'm disheartened that they were not all there for the process. This application does support our priority, which is 'Greeley open for business.'"

Elder was referring to the planning commission meeting in which three of the seven members were absent.

The expanded dealership will employ 25 more people with an annual income of $60,000-$85,000 per year.

"This is in my ward," said John Gates. "That is the most unsightly plot of land I've seen in some time. It looks like it did five years ago. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for build out, and I will usually side with pro business. How could we not encourage a successful business to continue to grow and thrive and bring 25 more jobs ­— and good paying jobs — to this community."

Elway started off his testimony with a bit of fun exchange with Mayor Tom Norton.

"I'm sorry to hear about your knees," Elway said. "I've had to have mine done, too, but they turned out OK. I hope your's get better."

He said Greeley has always had a special place in his heart since he was here for training camp with the Broncos in the 1980s and '90s.

"I am proud of doing business in Greeley and proud to be part of Greeley," Elway said. "When I was with the Broncos I wouldn't have rather been any other place. The support we had while we were here was tremendous."

Several people spoke in opposition to the plan, including a 5 percent owner of the town homes nearby the proposed development.

Bill Purcell said in order to break even on the town homes, he must build another 154 units. The rezoning will reduce the number that can be built to 64. However, the majority owner of the town homes wants to move forward with the rezoning.

Jeff Engelman, owner of Gateway Self Storage, also opposed the rezoning because he said his business will be entirely enveloped by car dealerships and he doesn't believe that is good for the area.

"It doesn't reflect good planning," he said by phone on Wednesday. "But I can understand why the council did what they did. Town homes have a hard time getting completed, and I agree with Gates, it is an eyesore, and I'm tired of tumbleweeds blowing in. But it's not a good mix."

City Manager Roy Otto said Tuesday's council meeting was a lesson learned for his staff.

"I want us to be online with our council," he said. "If I went forward with the budget and it was changed 100 degrees, I'd question why. My hope is that staff can do a good job of translating to the council what their thoughts are. Staff knows there is a need for housing, that's true. But the council has an economic growth priority as well, and maybe we should err on the side of that."